Welcome back! I'm excited for this season. It'll be a bit on the smaller side, but I really want this one to be important for these characters. The overall plan is that this will be a very gameplay focused season, with multiple elements from various seasons and some that I made up myself. I don't have much else to say, so enjoy!
Episode 1: Dawn of a Fractured Era
A boat arrived on the edge of a beach with no dock, the beach itself rather small as well. Forest engulfed the visible area, even cutting off some of the sand that existed. Stepping off of the boat first was none other than Chris McLean, in his standard blue button-down shirt and khaki pants. The host took a deep inhale through his nose as he closed his eyes to only smell what was going on around him. "Chef," he said with a wide smile. "I know I say this every time, but I really think we did it this time."
The next person off the boat was a larger darker skinned man, Chef Hatchet. He was much taller than Chris with a slight hunch in his back, and he wore a chef's hat and apron overtop of brown pants and a yellow shirt. "Yeah, we put ourselves in the middle of nowhere," he retorted back, much to the chagrin of Chris.
Chris chose to shrug off the unreciprocated comment about the location and turned to the camera with excitement. "Luckily for all of you at home, we don't actually want Chef's opinion!" Chef scowled at the host again, this time actually frightening the man. "Well, that could have been worded better. What I mean is, we're here anyway, so we should make the most of it!"
Chef sighed. "Make the most of it, huh? I don't know what 'it' is yet, but I'm sure as soon as I find out, I'm gonna hate it." He grabbed a few briefcases off of the boat and carried them all over for Chris.
Chris was busy talking to the camera to notice or appreciate Chef's efforts. "Welcome to Diairesi Island! This is a very unique place that we've managed to find in a location that you don't get to know, because this place is crazy dangerous, and if you show up here, you could end up suing for more than I'm worth, and that's a lot."
The host laughed as a graphic appeared on screen with fourteen silhouettes. "This season, fourteen contestants are going to be battling it out for not one, but two million dollars! This will be the toughest season yet, and we'll explain what makes this place so special once all of our self-guided boats arrive, carrying those fourteen lucky competitors. What dangers await our new friends? What can we expect to happen to them? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! Diairesi Island!"
Out on the horizon of Diairesi Island, the contestants were nowhere to be found. Everything was clear as far as the eye could see. But, way below the surface, a submarine was rapidly approaching the island, nothing in the way except for a few fish that quite frankly stood no chance against a hulking metal behemoth.
There were a multitude of rooms inside the submarine, but furthest in the back was a small compartment where someone was quietly reading to themselves. They had silky smooth silver hair that went just past their shoulders, the gleaming matching their vibrant blue eyes. While it was hard to tell as they were sitting, the person was exceptionally short, being no more than 4'11'' tall. They let out a small yawn as they continued to read in relative silence.
"Okay, Yuri," they told themselves, "one more chapter and then I suppose it is time to meet a person or two." Yuri was wearing a red button-down blouse with white jeans and blue hi-top shoes. The bookworm's eyes appeared almost glossy as they continued to read by themselves.
Unfortunately for Yuri, that quiet time was coming to an end. Someone else had made their way to the back of the submarine. They quickly closed the metal door again that closed the area off from the rest of the vessel. "That was freaky," the boy said with a shocked face as he hid underneath the window of the submarine's door.
With their reading now interrupted, Yuri let out a dejected sigh. "And, do you intend to share who you are or why you barged in, or are you going to just hide here?" Their tone was rather plain, but also with a hint of curiosity.
The boy in question was probably not much taller than Yuri, only 5'4'' tall. He had light brown hair with short bangs falling to the top of the right hazel eye, the other eye being completely open. He wore a fully unbuttoned and untucked white button-down shirt with a white undershirt underneath, black dress pants, a belt of the same color, and black shoes. He had looked like he just returned home after a hard day on Wall Street. "Oh, yeah," he said nonchalantly, his tone rather informal. "Sorry for bursting in, I'm Ike Soranna, bargaining extraordinaire and The King of Deals." He laughed. "I guess you wouldn't know that though-"
Ike tried to think of something else to say, but paused when he realized he totally did not know their name. "Yuri Rill," Yuri responded. Ike extended a handshake, which Yuri begrudgingly accepted. "Care to share what caused you to run in here?"
The bargainer nodded with a still slightly fearful look, but it slowly diminished back to normal. "Honestly, now that I think about it, it wasn't so scary. Just some creepy dude in the corner jumped out at me." He chuckled. "Not much of a first impression for ya, huh? And with such a beauty-"
"Save it," Yuri said back instantly, picking up their book to hide their expressions and the slight eye twitch that came from it. "You should probably drop that charmer act before we make it to the island, I doubt it will do you any good."
Ike gave a passive shrug to the bookworm, showing off his indifference. "Eh, it failed with you, but it could work on anyone else." He winked. "If you're interested in advice, I could give some as well, and you're in luck, this one's free. Winners don't sit in the back and read books."
Yuri rolled their eyes at Ike's advice. "Point taken, but you have found yourself conversing with me, so perhaps you are not set to win either." They put the book down and placed it in the bag they had brought with them. "But, you make a convincing enough point. I will take you up in conversation, even if it passes the time slower."
"There we go," Ike said encouragingly. "If you want, we can go try and find the creepy guy I saw. We're gonna have to get to know him eventually, so why not start now?" Yuri seemed to instantly regret their choices, but still followed Ike out anyway.
Out in the main space, there were many more people that were sitting around. The first person was a much taller boy than Ike, standing around 6'2'' with messy medium-length black hair and piercing green eyes. He looked extremely well-built and muscular, but it was tough to tell underneath the large beige coat and black leather gloves that he was wearing. "Petra, tha eímaste ekeí apó leptó se leptó."
Of course, the most notable part of the boy was the falcon resting on his right arm that he was speaking to. The black falcon flapped its wings excitedly, like it wanted to fly away, but the boy stopped it. "Na stamatísei," he commanded. The boy was also wearing wrinkled brown cargo pants and black combat boots. "I just hope the rest of the trip is okay for you…"
Someone else wandered over to the falconer. Much like the boy, this girl was exceptionally tall and stood even taller than him, around 6'5'', and was very muscular. She had piercing light blue eyes that did not match the rest of her dark outfit- a black sports bra, a set of black leggings, all matching her dark brown hair that was in a ponytail. The one thing that did match her eyes were her boots, which were as light blue as her eyes. "You," she said with a suspicious look. "What is your deal with that bird?"
The falconer shrugged. "This is Petra, she's a bird friend that I have." Things were silent for a bit, but he broke it again. "That accent of yours. Are you also Greek?"
"That I am," she spoke bluntly. "My name is Zenovia Exitium. You may call me Zena." Zena could not help but stare at the bird with a lot of interest. "Do you plan on bringing that with you all the time?"
He shook his head. "For as long as I can. She can return to me any time I want, I've trained her so she does." Without losing control of his right arm that housed the bird, he stuck out his left for a handshake. "Xerxes Siska. Hopefully we can be on the same team or something like that."
Zena let out a quiet huff as she shook Xerxes's hand. "I suppose that would be useful, you appear to be the only one capable of maybe keeping up with me." Xerxes quickly found that Zena was not one for talking.
Things continued to stay awkward for a while. Xerxes and Zena were staring out of neighboring windows in silence for a bit. "Oh!" Xerxes thought out loud. "I know, where are you from in Greece? I was from a small bird sanctuary on Crete before moving to America, how about you?"
"Thessaloniki," Zena replied shortly. "It appears we are from different locations in the country. In addition, I still live there. We would likely not see each other outside this show."
Xerxes looked interested now. "Hey, that's cool too. I know Total Drama's international, but like, what made you decide to come out and give this a shot all the way across the Atlantic?"
Zena was quiet for a second, like she had no desire to actually reveal that information to the falconer. "I have some things I would like to do," she explained vaguely. "My reasoning for being here is special to me and me alone. If you wish to pry, you will get equal or greater pushback from me."
That notion seemed to terrify Xerxes a bit. "Okay, got it," he said with a laugh. "I'll be sure to watch my back around you then. But, if we end up on the same team, us Greeks gotta stick together, you know?" Zena's response was another cold huff, which caused Xerxes and Petra to both roll their eyes in unison.
Nearby, someone else was excitedly looking around at their surroundings. She stood around 5'11'', had long puffy strawberry blonde hair that went to her lower back, and had bright blue eyes. She wore a puffy white sweater and red skirt that stopped just above her knees, and gray leggings that stopped just below them. "Oh, I'm just so excited to be here!" she gasped with exhilaration in her voice.
She quietly hummed to herself as she began to see the other people around her. Everyone seemed so intensely in their own conversation, but there were a few people still sitting by themselves. She noticed someone who was absent-mindedly staring out the window. The boy was 6 feet tall, and had hair that was dyed a dark red, and had some short spikes on the top of it. His face seemed to be filled with scars and marks on it, most of them matching his gray eyes and very pale skin. He had pierced ears as well. The girl went to reach out to tap him on the shoulder, but the boy instinctively turned around and caught her arm before she could. "Something you need?" he asked ominously.
The girl hesitated as she pulled her arm back, freeing herself from the grip, which was something that surprised the boy too. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said with a sincere tone, "I just thought you looked alone and wanted someone to talk to!" She politely took a step back and sat down on the seat next to him. "I'm Ardella Lunaire, by the way."
The boy looked a bit more willing to talk now that Ardella had explained herself. He was also wearing a light black tight-fitting sleeveless tech-shirt with an unzipped matching leather jacket over top of it, and dark gray ripped jeans with sneakers with some sort of modification on them and back gloves. "Well, why didn't ya say so?" he asked in a much more cheery voice. "Yello, nice to meetcha, I'm Oscar Larima." Ardella looked put off by his instant switch flip.
Ardella smiled politely. "Oh, good, I thought you were going to be mad at me, and I wouldn't want that. Anyway, I'm so excited to be here. This has been something I've wanted to do for so long, and it's finally happening! How about you?"
"Oh, totally," Oscar said back. "I've been tryin' ta get outta here for ages. What do ya think we'll end up doing?"
The cheery girl shrugged. "I mean, it could be anything, there's a lot of unique things that they could bring to a season like this. But, I really don't want to think about that right now. Tell me about you! You seem like a really interesting person!"
Oscar no longer looked as happy as before, his face changing to a nervous one. "Ya know? There's other things to talk about," he said with a twitch of his eye. "I mean, would ya like it if I started asking about your whole life story, huh?"
Ardella grimaced at the thought of that idea, a move that shocked Oscar a bit. "You know, I hadn't really considered that," she admitted. "Thanks for your perspective. I'll try to be more careful about that in the future." Oscar smiled. "How about…what do you like to do?"
"I like ta do lotsa stuff, yanno?" Oscar asked with a perky voice. "My friends say I'm a real goobzer at flippin' bottles and the like, cha get it?" Ardella was still taken aback by Oscar's odd speech pattern. It was clear she did not get it whatsoever.
"That's great!" Ardella replied anyway. "I'm a bit of a runner, so I like to practice doing that. My friends and I are all on the running team where I go to school, and next year I'm going to be a captain, which is super exciting for me. I can't wait to bring them all a win!" She gasped in excitement. "Maybe we'll be on the same team here! Imagine how fun that could be!"
Oscar chuckled. "That'd be a nutsy little adventure, wouldn't it?" He shrugged. "Glad I got ta talk to ya. You seem like ya got ya head on okay. Bye-a jambalaya!"
"...Jambalaya?" Ardella asked blankly under her breath. She could hardly understand the quirky way Oscar talked, but she could tell he was a good person.
On another side of the submarine, a shorter boy looked completely anxious as he sat nervously in a chair by himself. He stood at 5'7'' and had dark skin with gelled up black hair and yellow eyes. He also wore a large gray button-down shirt that was untucked and black pants to match his shoes of similar color. "Okay," he said to himself. "I can do this, I can do this…just don't be in anyone's way and I can do this." His eye twitched a bit as he began to move his arm around to stretch it out.
As he did, the boy ended up knocking his arm into someone, who promptly collapsed on the ground. "Now you've done it, Dante Accello," he said to himself again. The person who was on the ground continued to not respond. "Did…did I kill them?"
The person on the ground had a tan complexion and medium-length black hair that was almost in a bowl cut, but more natural looking. Their outfit was simple, a purple T-shirt and cargo shorts, and they were on the heavier side. Dante reached down to their neck and found a pulse. "Thank goodness, they're alive," he thanked himself. "Should I wake them up to get them back in the chair? They look comfy enough."
The sleeping person was definitely in their own world. Dante noticed the backpack the person was carrying with them had a name on it. It read, Ushi Abel. "Ushi?" Dante asked nervously, hoping to not mess up and cause problems again. "You probably don't want to talk to me, since I am the worst luck ever, but you're sort of on the ground."
Ushi continued to not respond. They were completely asleep, and the change from being on the chair to being on the floor seemed to not have affected them at all. "Oh, okay," Dante said slowly. He glanced around the main room to see all of the other people engaging in conversation. "So…Ushi, do you do anything or…" Dante sat quietly to see that no one was watching them. "Well, a sleeping person is bound to be the safest person around me. I don't want to cause anyone else any trouble with my luck…"
Meanwhile, toward the front, a Japanese girl was excitedly looking out the window through her brown eyes. "It's a little boring," she said to herself as she stared out into the water. "I guess seeing the water is neat, but there's no weather to talk about down here. What do fish even do all day?" The girl had straight black hair with some pink extensions that were in different parts of her hair.
It was tough to tell since she was sitting, but the girl probably stood around 5'5'', and even more so, she had a slightly curvy build that was mostly covered completely by her puffy pink sweater she wore with white leggings and pink sneakers. "I wonder what my parents are up to right now…" She shrugged. "Well, no reason to go nuts about it. I should find someone to talk to."
The girl eventually found someone on the opposite side of the front, blankly staring out into the open. The other girl's head seemed to be completely empty. She was even shorter than the pink-wearing girl, around 5'2'' only. Despite her short height, she had a rugged look on her face that did not match the spaciness of her black eyes. "Hiya!" The first girl greeted her enthusiastically. "I'm Harumi Hayashi, what's your name?"
The other girl stared blankly at Harumi. "My name…isn't important," she stated bluntly. "There's nothing wrong with entering this game with an air of mystery. I think it could triumph over your bubbly attitude." She watched as Harumi frowned at the response the girl gave out. "You won't make me feel bad. Feeling's not my thing." She let out a small yawn, brushing off her also straight black hair that only went to the bottom of her neck.
"You're so serious!" Harumi said back with a still cheerful tone. She sat down right next to the other girl. "Do you wanna know a secret?" Harumi asked with a sly look. The other girl seemed much more interested now, blinking a bit that Harumi had offered that up so quickly. "Oh, not so fast, Silent Treatment, you gotta tell me your name first!."
'Silent Treatment' groaned. "As you wish. I am Caia Rodiv." Caia was wearing a very relaxed outfit, an unzipped red tracksuit jacket overtop a black T-shirt, and dark blue jeans with red sneakers. "Harumi, you realize you must tell me your secret now. That was part of the deal."
"Caia…" Harumi muttered with a bright smile. "That's such a pretty name! But, I think I like 'Silent Treatment' better, so I'm gonna keep calling you that!" Caia recoiled her head a bit, seeming to not like the nickname that was sticking. "Well, I guess a deal's a deal." She sat right next to Caia and whispered. "I can perfectly predict the weather for the next day."
That statement caused Caia to let out a sigh. "From the looks of it, I have been played." Harumi looked confused at that as Caia returned to her regularly apathetic expression. "Harumi, do you have any other business here? I suppose an alliance is in order, right?"
"Alliance?" Harumi asked as she tilted her head in confusion. She waited a second for Caia to respond, but the emotionless girl said nothing back. "Silent Treatment, you're funny. We don't even know if we'll be on the same team, and you an alliance!" Harumi had a loud laugh that looked like it was getting attention from the other contestants as well. "Nah, I don't really do any of that. But, if you wanna hang out still, I'm totally down for that."
Caia sighed again, the conversation was already getting tiring for her. "I'm quite alright, as a matter of fact," she stated in a calm voice that disagreed with the sigh that came right before. "But, I must find out, do you plan on calling me 'Silent Treatment' the whole time?"
"Well, yeah!" Harumi responded like it was a super regular question she got. "I mean, I won't call everyone the same thing, but everyone will get a fun little nickname! I think that it can bring a lot of people together, even if it's against me for giving them a bad one. But I like 'Silent Treatment'. I'm sure it'll grow on you. They always grow on you." Caia let out another quiet sigh and decided to turn away from Harumi for good. She was officially socially drained.
Around the middle of the submarine, someone was feeling the metal walls of the vessel, completely mesmerized by its toughness. "Wow, how much metal does one need to mine in order to create something this lavish?" The girl who was inspecting the metal had purple dyed hair with blue eyes, the ends of the girl's hair being her natural blonde color. This girl was very short, standing only at 5'1''. She wore clothes that matched the way she spoke, a very nice-looking purple suit and a black briefcase she had as well.
"Obviously someone of your status should know," someone else greeted them. He was dressed just as fancy, standing at 5'10'', with a dark black suit that starkly contrasted the white shirt and black tie he was wearing. He appeared dressed for a wedding. The boy had well-combed black hair and piercing blue eyes. "You appear to be some sort of high-end lawyer…with an affinity for the color purple."
The girl sheepishly laughed. "I guess you could say that. I am still in law school, so I am no lawyer yet, but at one point I aspire to appear in court defending clients. As for the color thing…it is my name, after all. Everyone in my family is named after a gemstone. I am called Violet Saphir. You may call me Vi if you wish."
"Both are beautiful names," the boy responded back. "I am Matthew Ludwig Jean Philip McBride. If you wish, you may simply call me Matt." He glanced down at the suitcase Vi was holding. "If I may ask, what sort of items did you deem worthy of bringing to an island in that suitcase?"
Vi hesitated to respond to her new friend. "I would rather not disclose that," she admitted. "The truth of it is, they are rather important documents that I would rather stay hidden. What would someone of your status assume would be suitable items to bring to an island?"
Matt was recoiled by that question as well. "To an island…one would likely need…" The perfect child was drawing a blank at the answer. He gave up, simply laughing and shaking his head. "Apologies. It appears I have no clue. To be honest…this is my first time ever leaving my mansion. I have very limited knowledge of the world outside aristocracy, so an uninhabited island is very new to me." He glanced up at Vi, who looked surprised to hear that. "Please do not think less of me."
Vi simply laughed at Matt's nervous response. "There is no need to think that way," she replied formally. "If you share something so personal, it is only right I do the same." She paused and glanced around. "It is true I am in law school. I am on a full scholarship, because I could not afford it otherwise. My family is not one of nobility, it is one of farmland. I hail from a small town in southern Georgia, with a population of thirty, eight of those thirty being my family. I am hoping to win this show to give them a better life."
Then, the final reveal. Vi opened up the briefcase to reveal that there were no important documents at all, and in actuality, the briefcase contained various carrots and potatoes. "Again, apologies for the initial mislead," she said solemnly.
"I had no idea that you were a farmer," Matt replied. "If your intention was to hide your identity, I say you have been doing quite the excellent job. It appears you will fare much better on this island than I will. But you do not sound like you are from Georgia. I am intrigued at how that came to be."
Vi shrugged. "It is quite simple, really," she stated. The farmer cleared her throat, and spoke to her in a completely different manner. "Ya see, I've spent years a' my life speakin' pretty. Can't let the corporates know I'm from bumble." She cleared her throat again. "Something of that manner."
"Impressive," Matt complimented. "You clearly have dedicated yourself to this craft. Perhaps this is good for both of us, however. I could learn about the outside world from you, and you could learn from me about nobility to enhance our lives in some way. I am not sure what else awaits us here, but I think that could be a fruitful endeavor."
"Quite," Vi replied, completely disregarding her country dialect that she had let run wild just a second ago. "I believe that could be a very advantageous offer. I will tentatively accept, but know that I may change that decision should we end up on different teams."
That final word seemed to have confused Matt immensely. "Teams? What sort of show happens on this island? The only briefing I received is that my goal should be to find someone who is worthy of the McBride legacy here, whatever that is supposed to mean."
"What?" Vi shot back quickly, trying to gauge if Matt was joking, and her country dialect slipping out for that word in shock. "There is only one explanation." She sighed. "We may need to brief you a bit further on exactly what happens here."
"Hmm…should I go find someone to talk to, or should I wait for someone to find me?" a tan-skinned girl asked playfully to no one as she relaxed on the ground by the back door where Yuri and Ike were initially. This girl had long dark brown hair and brown eyes, standing at 5'8''. She wore a bright green strapless tube top and lighter ripped-up jeans.
After a not-so thorough decision process, she shrugged. "Eh, why wait to decide? I have something that does that for me." With a uselessly sinister wink, she pulled out a silver coin from her pocket, flipping it up in the air. She struck a pose as she caught the coin, enjoying the theatrics of the experience. The coin had landed on tails. "Ah, looks like I'm waiting."
She leaned up against the wall again, letting out a sigh. "I'm sure I'll run into someone eventually, the coin decided this, after all." As the girl began to close her eyes, she noticed a set of beady hazel eyes in a very shadowy part of the submarine. "Ah!" she shouted instinctively.
The person in the shadows emerged into the light before the girl. He had long dark blue dyed hair that went to his shoulders, and was the same height as Ike, 5'4''. "Greetings, child," he greeted the girl in a spooky tone. "What scream brought you such trouble? It would be in my best interest to eliminate the cause."
The boy wore a completely black outfit, with long cargo pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and scarf all of the same dark umbral shade. The girl still looked completely freaked out. "There is no reason for dread or panic," he assured her. "I am Wade Callows. I hope to make your acquaintance in the coming nights."
The girl still appeared terrified by Wade's presence. "Come on, come on…" she pleaded to her coin as she threw it in the air. After several flips, the coin appeared on heads. "Drat!" she said with a scowl. She turned to Wade with a fearful look. "I-I'm Trinity Bonilla. Sorry if I screamed, I just wasn't expecting a person to be, ya know, in the corner wearing all black."
Wade paused for a second. "Perhaps that demeanor is appearing to be my downfall." He put his hand to his chin. "There was another person who ran into that back room a second ago, and they appeared rather afraid of me as well. Do you consider my appearance frightening?"
"Not frightening," Trinity said back bluntly. "Just…I don't know how to put it nicely." She flipped a coin right in front of Wade. "Luckily the coin decided I won't do that at all. You're totally weirding people out by hiding in shadows and all that. What's your deal?"
Wade's demeanor totally changed after that. "What? You think I'm weird? That's not what I wanted at all!" His tone even sounded higher-pitched, throwing the already delusional Trinity for a loop. He sighed. "I just want to be a cool hero who vanquishes justice- no, evil! I can't even explain myself properly to you…"
Trinity blinked a few times. "I don't know if I even want to be here to unpack this with you…" she instinctively flipped her coin, the silver coin landing on heads again. "What?! You're kidding!" She smiled politely at Wade. "Let's unpack this a bit. Do you think the good guys should be stalking people in corners?"
Wade sighed in defeat. "No, they shouldn't be. B-but, what if they did? They stalk evil in corners and then when the time comes, they strike!" He smiled. "You know, not all evil is stupid. Sometimes it could take a trick or two to defeat someone who is truly evil."
The coin flipper glanced around the submarine. "I'll be honest, I'm looking around, and I don't see anyone who is really evil here." She pointed to Zena. "That giant girl looks super duper scary, but I bet she's a ball of sunshine. Maybe the guy next to him with the bird? That could be an evil bird."
Wade shook his head. "I bet that falcons are loyal, and they couldn't be loyal to an evil person." He shrugged. "Trinity, I like your point, but I'm gonna keep doing my thing I think." He switched back to his deep voice. "Demon lurk…no! Super lurk!" With that, Wade retreated back into the shadows.
Unknown to them, Yuri and Ike were standing there the whole time, watching that entire interaction go down. "I find it hard to believe that you were afraid of someone as simple as that," Yuri stated bluntly.
"Your words wound me, Yuri," Ike playfully said back. "I'll forgive them if you name a good enough price?" The bookworm groaned and walked away from Ike, who simply sheepishly waved at Trinity.
Wade sat in the corner again, the window area being dark enough to hide him perfectly again. "Soon, I will vanquish the- what?" He let out what was almost a hiss as the window lit up with sunlight, and the submarine stopped moving.
"Attention, my brand new friends!" Chris announced from a set of speakers in front of the submarine's main room. "We have arrived! Make your way down to the beach as soon as you can. It's time to get this thing rolling!" Everyone was quiet for a second, but once Zena stood up and instantly began heading out, one by one, everyone else began to follow suit, stepping foot on the beach and officially starting the game.
The cast arrived on the beach of Diairesi Island, where Chris was waiting for them. "Welcome, campers, to our brand new season of Total Drama!" He clapped excitedly for them, and Harumi and Ardella alone returned the clap, while everyone else watched patiently. Chris began counting everyone. "Three…eight…eleven…thirteen. We're missing someone."
Dante, who was standing far away from everyone else, raised his hand timidly. "Oh, right. Um, Chris, there's someone still in there. I think their name is Ushi, and they're still asleep. I tried waking them, but it was no good."
Chris nodded. "Right, right, we sort of thought that might happen after their interview." He pointed to Zena and Oscar. "You two, do you mind grabbing Ushi and coming back here?" Zena and Oscar exchanged weird glances, the red-haired boy giving a goofy shrug. The two then left to go grab their final cast member.
Things were silent for a second, until Oscar walked out empty-handed, and Zena had Ushi on her back, carrying them to the beach and promptly dropping them on the ground. Despite that, Ushi had not woken up yet. "Thanks, you two, Zena specifically." Zena let out a huff, not gracing Chris with eye contact. The host then pulled out a megaphone. "USHI, IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP."
The rest of the campers watched as Ushi, not even stirring a bit, continued to sleep. Some people looked rather confused as to why they were competing at all. "Well, we've done all we can," Chris decided. Chef rolled his eyes at the sleeping person. "At any rate, welcome to everyone else! We have officially beached ourselves for the next two weeks or so on Diairesi Island."
The name of the island got the attention of two campers in particular. "Diairesi…" Xerxes thought out loud. "That is a Greek name, for 'split', correct?" Zena nodded to confirm that. "What's with that?"
"Excellent catch, Xerxes!" Chris replied enthusiastically. "You'll have to wait a second to see why this place is called Diairesi Island, since there's nothing getting through your current view."
Everyone looked out to see what Chris was talking about. The trees at the end of the beach were so dense that it was impossible to see through it at all. However, Chris was doing a double-take back to the falconer. "...Xerxes, I thought we agreed in your interview we were gonna leave the bird at home."
Xerxes glanced over to Petra. "As you wish," he replied in defeat. Turning to the bird, the falconer spoke, "Petra, petáxte edó gia lígo." The bird instantly flew away to the sky, beginning to circle the island. "She'll manage," he affirmed everyone. "We do things like that a lot."
"Thanks for that, as late as it was," Chris accepted. "Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with how this goes, but just in case anyone signed up without knowledge, I'm here to save you." Matt looked rather grateful for that bone he was thrown.
"Each day, you will compete in challenges in a team of seven to start. That number, however, will dwindle as your team loses challenges and you are forced to face the elimination ceremony. There, you will vote off one of your peers, and send them out of here. Come with me!" Chris and Chef walked about a hundred feet with the cast in tow. Zena rolled her eyes and grabbed Ushi.
The fourteen contestants stopped at the firepit on the beach, which was in a big hole. "Like the hole? Chef dug it. That will make sense later. Anyway, the voting will happen here, and when a loser is declared, they'll be sent out on the submarine and taken away for good. No coming back in this game, when you're out, you're out." A few murmurs came from that.
"Finally," Chris continued, "this season, we wanted to up our game a bit in the strategy department, so we don't just have one, we have…THREE idols for you to find!" Chris unrolled a big poster at the word 'three', showing off a big diagram with three different idols. Each idol had a unique design, but all were wooden hands holding up a number. Around the poster, there were also various sizes of question marks.
"Idol number one is the vote steal idol," Chris explained, pointing to the idol holding up a 'one'. "This is a rather useful item that you will want to keep around. You can play this idol before any elimination ceremony you are in, and it will stop someone's right to vote for the night, blessing you with two votes!" As Chris explained the idols, Ike was getting more and more excited.
"Idol number two is the immunity idol," Chris said as he pointed to the middle idol picture, that held up a 'two'. "Like it always has, the immunity idol gets rid of all votes against you, and only that. Unlike previous seasons, however, it must be played prior to the votes being read. The instant the first marshmallow goes out, you can't use it." A lot of people seemed interested in that idol.
"Finally," Chris concluded pointing to the idol holding up a 'three', "we have the team swap idol. Unlike the other two, this is an idol you may play at any time. You can use it mid-challenge to put yourself on the winning team, or as soon as you lose the challenge. The only time it can't be used is if I am handing out marshmallows. Be careful, once the teams merge, this idol is useless." Each idol was captivating the interest of more and more people.
The murmuring was growing louder when Chris cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "But, while we have these three idols, you need to be careful. Hidden among the real idols, is a fourth fake idol that looks identical to only one of the other three." The talking stopped. "Anyone who plays the fake idol with intention is instantly eliminated from the game. If we're in the middle of a challenge, we stop it and the day is over."
"Woah," Oscar muttered in an out-loud tone that was super audible. "Sounds like one of us might get bye-a jambalaya'd early." His phrase shocked half of the people around him, making them all forget about the idols for a second.
Ardella shook her head. "This is already getting super intense, I hope we all do our best anyway." Even the charismatic and upbeat Ardella was starting to get concerned. The only two people who had no concern about the idols in play were Caia, who looked as stone-faced as ever, and Ushi, who hadn't even woken up to hear the rules.
Chris grinned. "See, this is what I wanted! Your pure and absolute fear." He chuckled for a second. "Anyway, if you are the one who beats everyone else in the end, and wins Total Drama Diairesi Island, despite your small fame, you will come across a rather large fortune of two million dollars!" Everyone was excited at that, except Caia, Ushi, and Matt looked rather unfazed by that number as well.
"That is a much more sizable sum than previous seasons," Vi muttered breathlessly, completely floored by that number.
The host grinned. "Now that you've finished your rollercoaster of emotions, we're about to get started! Just at the edge of the beach, before Diairesi Jungle, is a confessional. We'll have one here for voting, and one at each of the team sites, because honestly, this island is huge. Anyway, all of you should probably make a confessional. It'd be embarrassing to leave without even one." With that, a surprisingly orderly line came about and all but Ushi got ready to speak for the first time by themselves.
Ardella: "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!" she gushed, like a wide-eyed child. "I may not look like it, but I like to think I have some serious skills. Hopefully everyone on my team will work together and we'll become the best of friends!" She shuffled nervously for a second. "I really don't want to know what happens when we lose a challenge."
Caia: She sat as stone-faced as usual in the confessional for a second, before letting out a loud sigh, a very haughty smirk appearing on her face. "Ah…and so begins my master plan." She laughed. "I've got this in the bag. Everyone's gonna be scheming around me. Me? I won't care. Not to their face at least. Then, when they need me the most, I'm gonna crush them!" She slammed her fist into her other hand. "Bring it."
Dante: "I did that, right?" he asked nervously, trying to get a look outside. "I mean, Ushi isn't dead, but they've gotta be close." He shook his head in desperation. "Oh, man, I have the worst luck ever. I hope that doesn't ruin me too much. I think I could win if I am just nice to everyone." He shook his head again. "Then they'll vote me off…but-" he took a deep breath. "No, my bad luck aura has to be coincidences. That's what I'm here to prove."
Harumi: "So many names to make, so little time." The weather girl was furiously writing stuff down on a pad. "So far I've got Silent Treatment, Sleepy, and Xerky. As soon as I learn everyone else's name, I'll get them too." She paused and put a finger to her chin. "The only one I can't think of a name for is Zena, but I'm sure I'll get it." She sighed as she put the notepad away. "Oh, I was telling the truth about the weather thing. I don't know, it's just a thing I can do. Neat, huh?"
Ike: "Confessing things? I think not," he said with a sly laugh. "I gain nothing from that. Although, maybe being good for television could be beneficial to me in the long run." He pulled out a large stack of papers. "My preparation for this season runs deep. I've studied strategy, I've drafted various contracts, the only thing that I need to do now is get my hands on those idols. If I can find the fake and real version of an idol, I can tell them apart and use them all safely. I have a couple beginning plans, but I'll need to see who's up for grabs tonight first."
Matt: "This is all so nerve-wracking," he admitted. "I have never seen this as a place where people use strategies. Maybe my noble background might come in handy for that. I have dealt with some rather shady characters before." He adjusted his tie and he sat up with perfect posture. "I am glad I met Vi. She seems like someone who could help me out a great deal in learning about the real world."
Oscar: "Yello! It's me, Oscar!" he said excitedly to the camera. "I'm good at stuff, bad at stuff, all of that." He leaned up against the confessional wall as he sat. "Lemme be real crystal with ya though, some 'o these folks look like real pieces of work if yanno what I mean. Let's see what I'm able to do out there. Bye-a jambalaya!"
Trinity: The coin flipper sat in the confessional for a second, thinking about what to say. "Um…" she opened, then instinctively took her coin out of her pocket and flipped it, the coin landing on tails. "Well, see you later I guess." Trinity stood up without any hesitation and walked right out of the confessional without saying another word.
Vi: "While it is true that a deserted island is much more like my home than the others, I do not plan to let them know that." She shook her head. "I will be a high-end lawyer, the last thing I need is to have people rejecting me from important decisions because of my background. I will show up, win this competition, and head home to Georgia, hopefully having some money to help out my town.
Wade: He sat blankly in the confessional for a second. "The tides are beginning to turn," he whispered ominously. "I wish to take control of this game from the evildoers that also try to do so." He struck a heroic pose. "Fortune favors those who walk into challenges with vigor and rage. Fortunately, I am well-off enough to possess both." Jumping off the toilet seat, he crashed to the ground. "Ouch!"
Xerxes: The falconer waved amicably. "There are many things that I would consider dangerous here," he noted. "I think Petra will handle herself just okay. She's been through much worse. Hopefully I can be on a team with some cool people like Oscar or Zena. I would rather be in a place where people like them exist, who keep to themselves."
Yuri: They took a deep breath in, meditating with their eyes shut. "This is going to be an okay experience," they decided. "While I would really not like to get involved in anything troublesome, I know that likelihood is rather low. I only hope when the time comes, I'll be in control of myself." They sighed. "Sometimes it can be hard to be like this."
Zena: "I understand my power and looks can be intimidating," she admitted. "I've dealt with that for most of my life. But, everyone should know that if left alone, I am a rather passive person. There is nothing wrong with that, but should the time come where I need to use that ability I have, I absolutely will not hold back."
Eventually, the cast made their way back to the beach, where Chris and Chef were waiting patiently for them. "Now that you're all back, it's time to officially divide you into teams!" People began to look around to see who they thought might be good additions to their own team.
"First up: Ardella, Dante, Harumi, Wade, Xerxes, Yuri, and Zena, you seven will be the Buried Snakes!" The seven who were called began to head over to the green banner that had a snake inside it that Chef was holding.
Wade instantly scoffed at the title of his team. "One does not ward off evil as a snake…unless that is precisely what they would not expect." His demeanor changed slightly. "I am content with this assignment." Meanwhile, Ardella was looking around excitedly at her team.
"Next: Caia, Ike, Matt, Oscar, Trinity, Ushi, and Vi, you seven are going to be the Soaring Falcons!" The six awake members of the Falcons looked at their seventh member who still had not moved. "Someone double check if they're dead." Oscar walked over and dragged the sleeping person across, but failed to wake them up.
Xerxes had a devastated look on his face. "Wait, there was a falcon team, and you chose not to put me on there?" The falconer looked rather defeated by the revelation of the other team.
Chris laughed. "See? That's why I did it. Your look just now. We knew exactly what we were doing." He laughed again. "Hope you all like your teams, because you'll be stuck with each other for a while!"
Xerxes: "A team of falcons," he mused. "I have to be on it. I'll just find that team idol, and then I'll be right there with them."
Ardella: "My team is so exciting," she gushed. "We have Xerxes and Zena, who are pretty tough opponents, so I'm glad to be with them. We also have Yuri, who I think is probably really smart." She smiled. "This is my team. I will get every single one of them to the merge. Just you wait."
Chris smiled. "I knew that would be worth it. Anyway, now that we've got our idols introduced, and now that we've got our teams, we need to start working on our first challenge of the day." Chef rolled up a large screen that had a map of the island in front of it, crudely drawn to not give too much away.
From a glance, the island appeared to be similar to a two-pronged fork, with one end having a lot of greenery in the drawing, and one side being almost totally brown. In the middle of the fork was what Chris earlier referred to as Diairesi Jungle, which would also be the large forest in front of them. "Diairesi, as Xerxes mentioned a second ago, is Greek for 'split'. In short, this whole island is cut right down the middle, and the two ends could not be more different. Your first challenge as a team will be finding your team's campsite, which will be at the far end of your zones."
Chris zoomed in on the western prong of the island, which had more greenery and rock formations. "This half of the island is gonna be called the Sky Zone, which means that the peak of it is cold at night, and very high up. This will be where the Soaring Falcons make their camp." Vi studied the map with careful eyes.
The host switched over to the browner side, which upon zooming in, revealed itself to be a giant cave.
"This part of the island is gonna be the Deep Zone, and it's full of caves. The campsite for this one is going to be very low to the ground, so much so that there is not much that goes past it besides a lot of water. It'll be dark down there too, not a lot of light. Buried Snakes, you'll be here for now."
Chris moved to the Diairesi Jungle section. "Other than that, the dense jungle is what separates the two zones. Both of you will have to navigate through that before you deal with the climates of your own personal zones. Immunity tonight will go to the first team that makes it to their campsite and hands this map back to either Chef or myself." Chris handed out a smaller version of the map they had just inspected.
Ike glanced at the map he received for the Falcons. "This is just a smaller version of that picture," he pointed out. "The map is useless. How are we going to benefit from it?"
Chris laughed. "Oh, Ike, you don't get it. The only ones who ever benefit are Chef and me. You're all just here for the ride. Well, good luck, hopefully I won't see you back here tonight!" Chris and Chef then walked toward a helicopter to go set up at the finish of each location, leaving the fourteen cast members to totally fend for themselves.
"Are we gonna do this or what?" Oscar asked his team, who were still all surrounding the sleeping Ushi.
Caia glanced over at the sleeper. "So…is this just dead weight we have to bring with us? How is that fair? They at least have seven able bodies."
"It is likely a form of growth exercise, I imagine," Matt suggested. "I have often been put through troublesome experiences to test my growth, and I find it contributes greatly."
Vi snapped her fingers to grab everyone's attention. "Well, we ought to find a way to escort Ushi quickly, the Snakes have already begun their journey." She gestured over to the other team, who were already moving through the jungle at a good speed, Ardella leading them in the front. "Oscar, you regrettably will have to be carrying Ushi. None of us have the stature to do so." She pointed to the forest. "Onward, I suppose."
Ike: "So…we're definitely getting the short end of the stick here," Ike complained. "What good is someone who sleeps all the time? How did they even get accepted?" He put his hand to his chin. "Alternatively, that's enough mystery to satisfy me. Perhaps I'll work hard today to make sure we win this challenge and I learn Ushi's deal." He smirked. "Then it'll be my turn for a deal."
The Buried Snakes entered the jungle and it was about what everyone expected: the dense forest on the outside was no outer ruse, the whole area was completely dense and very difficult to trek through. "Careful, everyone!" Ardella called out from the front, "this branch up here has some thorns on it, watch where you're grabbing it!"
"You're such an upbeat person, The Della!" Harumi called from the back, the weather girl called from the back as she struggled to keep up with the rest of the group. Right in front of her was Wade, who had to stop every second or so to untangle his scarf from a vine. "Spooky Man, how are you fairing?"
"About as well as one would expect someone of my stature to perform," Wade affirmed. He got his voice to go a little lower. "But you are correct, that Ardella girl appears to be a rather chipper individual. I wonder what sort of demons she fights."
Yuri listened in on the conversation the two were having. "Not everyone fights demons," Yuri pointed out. "Some people are simply good people because they believe it benefits them the most. We could be falling right into her angle."
"Come on, don't be so negative, Yur!" Harumi assured them. "I'm sure you're overthinking it. I can tell you that I have about zero strategy-brain in my head, but I'm pretty cheerful too." She paused. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that."
In the middle of the pack, Dante was doing quite well for himself, managing to get around the branches and vines without too much difficulty. "This is going okay so far!" he said with a grin. He pushed through another branch only for it to whip back and smack Yuri in the face. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" he called back.
The bookworm let out a yelp at the impact, falling to the ground for a second. "I am fine," they said in a hasty tone. "Someone should call Ardella and let her know we are falling behind. Zena is way too far ahead, I can barely see her."
Dante nodded. "I can do that, I need to make up for this mistake." The harbinger ran ahead a bit and called out, "Stop! We need a break here!" By the time he caught up with Zena and Xerxes, he was way out of breath.
Ardella nodded. "Of course, we can totally break for a second. I think we have been making rather solid progress up until now." She called ahead to the two stronger Snakes. "Xerxes, Zena, we're gonna pause!"
Xerxes grabbed a chunk of vine with his left arm, and using his right, cut it in half with a clean strike. "Sure, I'm getting pretty tired anyway, this is a good way to recoup some of my strength." He went to a pile of dirt and sat on that near the others.
Zena let out a huff as she smashed through a log. "I guess it has been a while." She sat on the ground next to Xerxes. "Your strength is rather impressive," she told him. "For someone who is tall and skinny, you are slicing through vines like a pizza cutter."
The falconer shrugged. "My right arm has always been a bit stronger. I use that arm primarily when I am working with large birds, so I guess it's natural for me to have gotten pretty strong there."
"I once grabbed a bird with my bare hands and threw it at a wall before cooking it for dinner," Zena replied in a way which shocked the falconer. "Not a great story, but in my defense, the bird had pecked me twice. I only retaliated."
"That's quite the retaliation," Xerxes pointed out with wide eyes. "Hopefully you don't use that amount of power on anyone here. Seeing the likes of Yuri and Ike, someone might get hurt."
Zena laughed. "I am not a brute. I only fight people if they provoke me. If they don't earn it, I won't hurt anyone." She looked back at the rest of the team. "How are you all doing?"
Ardella gave a friendly wave. "We'll be ready to keep going soon." She grabbed water bottles out of the backpack she had brought. "If anyone else needs water, I thought we might need some, so I brought enough for everyone! I just wish I knew how close we were to being out of the jungle."
"We're about two-thirds of the way through," Harumi added nonchalantly. Everyone turned to her in surprise. "The moisture in the area a bit northeast of us will drop like crazy at night, which means that it's probably the cave." She still looked confused that everyone was staring at her. "Oh…right, I forgot I only told Silent Treatment, but I can predict the weather perfectly."
Yuri shook their head. "This place is weird," they said bluntly. "But, we should get moving again. I would very much like to find a good reading spot before we have to do anything else after getting to our site."
Dante nodded. "I agree, the quicker we're done this, the better." He glanced over and saw Yuri still had a big mark from the tree branch on their forehead. "But, I'm gonna hang in the back, it's probably the best spot for me to be…"
"Sounds like we're ready to keep moving," Ardella confirmed. "Good luck to all of you on the next part of the trek." She gave a big thumbs-up to everyone. "Don't forget, if you need anything, I'll always be right here for all of you!" Everyone felt a bit motivated after hearing the leader say that.
Dante: "I can't believe I slowed us down today," he lamented. "I injured Yuri and it forced all of us to stop. Maybe when I hang in the back of the group I won't be able to hurt anyone…"
Yuri: "This team functions exceptionally well together," they mentioned. "Xerxes and Zena seem to get along, Harumi and Ardella keep everyone in high spirits, and Dante and Wade still feel welcome even though their personalities clash with someone upbeat like Ardella." They put a finger to their chin. "So what is her deal? Everyone has a deal."
The jungle was proving difficult for both teams, the Falcons struggling every amount as much, even more. "This is quite the shrubbery," Matt mused as he tried pushing through the vines and branches. "Is that what every reality show is like?"
"None of them are like this," Ike spoke. "I can't think of any other show that stuffs in the jungle with someone who I am still not convinced isn't dead." He poked Ushi's head a few times.
Oscar swatted away the bargainer's hands. "Hey, lay off 'em, will ya?" Oscar snapped. "I gotta carry Sleeping Beauty here still." He carefully stepped through a pit of mud that made his shoes dirty. "How annoying, now I gotta get them squeaky clean-y when we get wherever we're goin'."
"Have no fear, team," Vi tried to say enthusiastically enough. "We are slow, but I think there is a good chance that we are able to prevail and earn ourselves a win." She effortlessly sliced through a vine. "Caia, how are you doing?"
The emotionless girl shrugged. "Eh. I've been better. I've been worse."
Meanwhile, Trinity was interested in Vi's clean slice of a vine. "You're traversing this area super well," she complimented the farmer. "I'll be honest, I thought a stuffy lawyer-type like you would be all grossed out by the woods and stuff." She laughed. "No offense."
Vi paused for a second, making sure to struggle and appear grossed out by the new vine she cut through. "I suppose there is nothing for it," Vi admitted. "While I advise you to be careful of who you are stereotyping, I appreciate your candid thoughts."
"Hey, less yappin' back there!" Oscar complained. "None o' you gotta carry this much on ya right now, so we should still be moving forward as best we can!" The odd speaker quickly checked Ushi's pulse, relieved to have found one. "Right, right, I didn't think that's what a dead body felt like."
Caia raised an eyebrow at Oscar's odd sentence. "Oscar, are you implying that you know what a dead body feels like? Even I can't help but be the slightest bit intrigued."
"What's with the lotta ya's?" Oscar shot back. "First the bubbly lady on the sub, now y'all? I don't think I gotta say much. Maybe I'm a firefighter and I save lives in burnin' buildings?"
The apathetic girl continued to bombard Oscar. "Okay, that would make sense if that were the case. Are you a firefighter?"
Oscar sneered. "Look, lady, I'm not diggin' through your baggage, how about you don't deal with mine? Not everyone's got a super pretty life." He paused for a second to catch his breath, glancing to his side to see Ushi again. "Well, 'cept this fellow. They've been nappin' while we're roughin' it."
"It sounds like the jungle won't be the end of that either," Trinity pointed out. "They said we've got to live in the Sky Zone. I wonder what that means."
Matt looked at Oscar's face and decided to continue switching to a new conversation topic. "Well, I would appreciate any help with this Sky Zone that you have to offer, these are all very new experiences to me."
Ike laughed. "Oh, Matt, you gotta learn not to share that with everyone. We're on your team, so we'll be able to help you out, but don't go telling the others you're new. That makes you fresh meat for them to vote off."
The perfect child nodded politely at the advice. "Thank you, Ike. I am grateful for your candor on the matter."
The bargainer sneered. "That piece of advice is on the house," he graciously offered. "After that you've gotta start paying, yeah?" He pulled apart a vine and walked through it, noticing that the area around them was much less dense. "Did we make it out?"
Vi inspected the area around them. "It appears that we might have made it through the jungle portion of the challenge. Now all that is left is to make our way up the mountain to reach our destination. The map says we should head northwest."
"No time to waste then," Caia said with a huff. Despite not showing it, it was clear she was tired. "I don't want to lose, even if we do have dead weight we can throw out."
Caia: "This team has gotten way more interesting," she pointed out. "Oscar is totally hiding something, which I will get easily because I'm just that awesome, Matt is easy pickings to manipulate too." She put her hand to her chin. "Vi is the only problem. She's definitely rather smart, Ike too. Maybe I'll get in their good graces somehow."
Matt: "Ike was helpful too," he admitted. "I hope I can repay that favor. Or maybe I should not? He did mention that people are out to get me here." He sighed. "I thought this would be more about survival and not about betraying others. I guess I will have to step it up somehow."
After some more trekking, the Buried Snakes had successfully clawed their way through Diairesi Jungle. "So…just right into the deep dark cave then?" Harumi asked nonchalantly. The seven members of the team were all staring into the cave, which had little to no lighting, almost all of it through some sort of natural light above.
Ardella was the first to take the triumphant step forward. "Don't fear, friends!" She encouraged the others, "If we keep up our bravery, I'm sure we'll find some sort of light! I mean, we can't possibly be in the dark the whole time!"
"It shouldn't be ruled out," Yuri admitted. "This whole place feels very wild and natural. I wonder how much time Chris and Chef actually had to rig the island with cameras and puzzles. Maybe the only puzzle is making it through a dark cave until someone gets there."
"Cool, I got it from here then, Yuri," Chris announced from a speaker that was attached to a tree. "Welcome, Buried Snakes, to the Deep Zone! While there is some lighting inside the cave, a lot of it is dark. Traversing the area can be a giant hassle if you don't know what you're doing. Once you get in there, there'll be lots of dark and dimly-lit pathways. Some will lead you to the final site where I am right now, and some will circle around and send you out of the cave. Not all paths that go down are correct either."
Chris said one last thing before leaving them. "You only need one person to arrive at the site to claim your immunity for your team," he explained, "but that could mean you split up and leave your other six to rot in a cave. Up to you. Have fun!" With that, Chris left everyone again.
Things were quiet for a second, before Zena spoke up. "It appears the best thing is to split into our own persons, and then find our site before heading back to the others. Victory is assured through that means."
"Hold on a second," Xerxes replied as soon as she said that. "Sure, we could win quickly, but what about after? What if it takes hours to find each other after that. We know nothing about how large that cave is. We can easily get lost for quite some time. We should stick together as long as possible."
"...I for one would like to split up," Dante argued. "I can't guarantee you'll be safe if we're all stuck together in a dark cave."
Things were about to break out into a full-scale argument, but Ardella clapped her hands a singular time, which stopped everything. "I appreciate all of your points of view," she spoke in a strong voice. "I think that we would only waste time if we continue to debate, though. It sounds like everyone has their opinion and does not plan to change it. We should vote now."
"Who thinks we should split up and recover our group first?" Zena, Dante, and Harumi raised their hands for that decision. "Now, who would like to travel in a group?" Wade, Ardella, and Xerxes raised their hands. "Yuri," Ardella pointed out, "you didn't vote. Sorry, but we need you to break the tie."
The bookworm sighed. "Sorry, I feel very split on that decision," they admitted. "Since it's up to me though, I'm going to go with…sticking together. I think it's safer for us, and I can't imagine the Falcons having such great luck that they win. They do have to carry Ushi to their spot."
"Then it's settled," Ardella announced. "We will stay in a group as we move through the cave. Here we go!" The leader went forward first, hoping that the others would follow right behind her, and they did. All seven Snakes began their descent into the dark, Dante trailing in the back for safety reasons.
Throughout each tunnel, the team continued to vote as a group, making whole decisions and deciding things together. "We appear to be tracking quite well," Wade pointed out. "Perhaps evil is best vanquished upon the safety of numbers."
"You talk funny, Spooky Man," Harumi complimented. All of the sudden, the weather girl stopped in her tracks. "Hold on, everyone," she warned. "There's some weird pressure change in this cave. If we take the tunnel to the left, then we can figure out what it is."
Xerxes seemed to like that idea. "You think that maybe there's a chance the pressure change is the campsite itself? I mean, it has to be lit up somehow, maybe some extra oxygen is down there for torches or something?"
"T-torches?" Dante asked nervously. "No, I think that we should go the other way. Who's with me?" Silence filled the cave. "Take a vote? Who's up for the torch area?" The other six hands shot up instantly. "Fine, but stay away from me."
With that, the seven Snakes walked to the area that was lighting up more and more. "Yeah, definitely something unnatural is coming up," Harumi confirmed. "Wow, who would have thought my little useless weather skill would work out?"
Dante: "Look, I know I look like a giant scaredy-cat," he mentioned, "but I have good reason to. I'm…cursed, basically. Everyone I am near ends up facing some giant misfortune at some point. I feel like a walking bad luck charm! And I do have proof to back that up!"
The Soaring Falcons stood at the bottom of the mountain. "Great," Caia complained. "We're almost there, just a giant hike uphill." She glanced back at Oscar. "Are you gonna be able to carry Sleeping Beauty up there all the way?"
Matt glanced at Ushi, who was sound asleep on Oscar's back. "We have been here for quite some time," he mused. "The sun is even beginning to set. I wonder if they will even be awake by the time we go to sleep."
"There is no sense in speculation of unknowns," Vi reminded the team. "We need to keep pushing ahead. The last thing we want to have to do is eliminate someone on the very first day." She checked the map. "It appears we just need to continue right uphill to reach our destination. The higher the elevation, the closer we get."
"Good thinking, Vi," Chris greeted them, a monitor descending from a tree. "Welcome, Falcons, to your second half. Now that you've gotten through Diairesi Jungle, you'll be going up this big mountain! But be careful! I've loaded some of the paths up with traps, mainly holes to make you fall in. Once one of you makes it to the top, one of you hands the map to me, and that's how the challenge ends, just in case all of you fall in first!"
Trinity looked surprised by that development. "Wait…so only one of us actually needs to get up to the top for the challenge?"
"That's the idea," Chris told them. "Same deal went to the Snakes, who you should hurry up against, because I've done this spiel for them already." He laughed. "Well, good luck, have fun with the holes!" With that, Chris disappeared into the tree.
Things were silent for a second, before Caia was the one to break the silence. "...So, we're ditching Ushi here, right?"
Oscar unloaded the sleeper onto the ground, letting out a huge sigh. "Ah, that's a big load of the O-man. We oughta get skedaddling!"
Matt was the one to interrupt everyone. "Hold on a second!" he pleaded, getting all their attention. "I don't think it's super safe to just leave them be like this. We should take them to the site, I think."
"We're slowing down with them," Ike argued. "It benefits us way more to dump 'em here and come back for them after the challenge." Matt did not look convinced. "Look," Ike continued, "the only option is for you to carry Ushi instead of Oscar."
"That puts us in the same problem," Trinity reminded them. "We were slow because one person was carrying a whole other person! We need to leave them."
Matt still did not want to abandon Ushi. Ike let out a loud sigh. "Fine," the bargainer folded, "I'll make you a deal. I'll personally go down after the challenge and bring them back up myself. I have a great sense of direction, so it'll be no problem for me. In exchange, you stop complaining about leaving them here. How's that?"
The perfect child took another look at Ushi, who was sound asleep on the ground. "I…I guess that solves my concerns. But ought to move quickly. I do not want to abandon Ushi for too long."
"Moving quickly would be the preferred outcome regardless," Vi reminded them. "We are attempting to win a challenge." The remaining six made their way up the mountain, each step getting further and further from where they had left Ushi.
A bit further up the mountain, the Falcons encountered a split in the path. "This is an odd scenario," the farmer said. "There appear to be hole traps on both paths, meaning either one could be correct."
Trinity gasped. "I can help with this!" She pulled out her silver coin excitedly. "This is how you make tough calls!" With a fun pose, she flipped her coin in the air, catching it effortlessly from the hundreds and hundreds of times she had already done this. The coin landed on tails. "We should go left."
Caia began walking to the left, as did Oscar. "Are…are we seriously letting a coin pick out all of our choices?" Ike asked in shock. The others who followed the first three to go left seemed to answer the question for the bargainer. "Fine by me, keep making it easy peasy for me when this crashes and burns."
The bargainer ran forward and caught up with Caia, who was mindlessly looking around. "This game already feels so much weirder than the other ones, huh?" he asked her. Caia let out a small shrug. "What do you think has the fake idol attached to it?"
The false apathetic sighed. "Truthfully, I do not care too much about the idols. Especially if there is a fake one that instantly eliminates us, I would rather not be on the bad end of that." Ike seemed surprised to hear that.
"Hey, we've got a stitch-ination goin' on here," Oscar called out. "Giant hole trap blocking the path, but I think we might got the campsite dead ahead. We jus' gotta get one o' us over yonder."
Everyone paused for a second while they tried to decipher Oscar's sentence. Vi cleared her throat. "I think Oscar is implying that we need to get one of us across with the map, and we will ascertain victory for certain."
"Bingo, baby," the funny-talking boy called back.
Trinity pointed to the forest at the edge of the hill. "We're getting to the end of the tree line, we're so high, but maybe one of these trees here is sturdy enough to get us to the end."
Ike walked up to the tree and tried to rip off a branch. "Ugh, not me," he said as he failed and shook his head. "Sorry, strength is not my forte."
Oscar chuckled. "Fine, lemme take care of all of ya." He took off his jacket and placed it on the ground next to him, revealing his very well-toned arms. "Check it." Oscar grabbed the branch as hard as he could, and within a few seconds, completely ripped the branch off. He walked back effortlessly with it and threw it onto the hole, creating a bridge. "Our lightest person should probably go across ta be safe."
The Falcons all turned to Caia, who stared blankly back at them. "Fine, I can do it," she relented relatively painlessly. "Give me the map and I'll get us this dumb win. After that you need to figure out how to get across."
The Russian teen walked carefully along the branch. Matt peered over the edge of the hole. "Wow, be careful, it looks really spiky down there. It could be bad if you fell."
"Gee thanks," Caia said back blankly. She glanced down once to see the spikes, then kept moving. With that, Caia disappeared from sight from the rest of the team. "Okay, they had better have been right on this." She continued to run a bit further, now getting slightly out of breath.
Just ahead, Caia noticed the Sky Zone campsite. It had seven tents that were about the size to fit four people in it, but the fact that there were seven meant each person would get their own. In the middle of the campsite was a firepit, and various cooking tables and stoves were also available. The other big feature of the Sky Zone campsite was the rocky cliff about a hundred yards past the campsite, meaning it was very much on the far end of the island, about as far as they could get from the beach.
Chef was waiting for the girl with a walkie-talkie in his hand. He appeared to be speaking to someone in it. Not wanting to waste any more time, Caia rushed for Chef, holding out the map in her hand. "They really sent one of you, huh?" Chef mused. "Well, welcome, Caia. Glad you could make it."
The emotionless girl handed Chef the dud map. "Did…did we win?" she asked in between breaths. "I'm gonna be real annoyed if we did all that work and didn't win."
The cook was quiet for a second. "On the walkie just now was Chris, who's with the Snakes, and he told me they made it there about ten minutes ago, all of them too, really impressive." He shrugged. "Sorry, you and your team lost this one."
The Russian teen looked upset by that revelation, but she quickly shrugged it off and re-adapted her emotionless face. "So be it," she said with a calm manner. "How would we go about fetching everyone else who got left behind?"
The cook shook his head. "We told you that wouldn't be our problem. You gotta figure that one out yourself." Caia let out an annoyed groan as she walked back the way she came.
As she went back, there was an announcement over the entire island. "Attention, everyone, now that both teams have arrived, the Buried Snakes have won this challenge! Soaring Falcons, you have about three hours to eat and get back to the beach to vote and get rid of someone!"
Caia: "Call me annoyed that we lost," she said while gritting her teeth. "At least this elimination will be very easy."
Down in the Deep Zone, the Snakes were relaxing in their campsite, which was similar to the ones the Falcons had. Instead of a cliff, the area was secluded in a part of the cave, the walls lined with torches. Already, Dante had moved his tent to be in the middle and as far away from all of the torches as possible.
The tents on the left belonged to Harumi, Zena, and Xerxes. "Wow, I am sure tired walking around half of this place today," Harumi admitted. "What was it called? Diary? No…Dependent…" She shrugged. "I forgot. Zena, you said it was Greek?"
"Yes, Diairesi," the muscular girl responded. "It is Greek for 'split' and after seeing the way the island is made, now we know why it's called that." She turned to Harumi. "Your weather magic was rather useful today."
Xerxes nodded. "I'll admit, I was put off by the weather thing at first, but it got us a win, so now we don't have to walk all the way back to the beach. That would have been exhausting." He turned to the firepit in the center, which Dante was also avoiding like the plague. "I hope Petra is doing okay. It normally takes a day or two for her to adjust to new environments."
"That is still impressive," Zena pointed out. "The ability to tame birds is not one everyone has. You command them so well. It is tough to see due to your jacket, but you must have very strong arms to support a bird as large as Petra."
The falconer grimaced. "Well, it will have to stay that way," he admitted. "I am cold in this cave, so I will be keeping the jacket on at all times." He sighed. "I'll admit, though, while Ardella did a great job leading us today, part of me wants to be on the team with 'Falcon' in the name."
"Come on, Xerky!" Harumi said in a cheery tone. "I think you're just missing your bird. A few more days with The Della, and you'll be just as chipper as Zena and me!"
Zena let out a huff. "Her leadership is exceptional, and she makes everyone feel included." The three looked over to see that Ardella was currently talking to Wade and Dante. The Greek girl looked back at Harumi. "By the way, I noticed that everyone on the team had a nickname except for me, Harumi."
The Japanese teen seemed thrown off by that assessment, as true as it was. "Oh! You're right. Normally they just flow out of me, but for some reason, it's super tricky to find a nickname for you. Muscles?" She shook her head. "That just seems weird. Zippy? No, that's a turtle name. You're a tough customer."
"Maybe because Zenovia is my full name. Zena is already a nickname," Zena suggested. "I am not too upset about it. I was just wondering if there was any particular reason you hadn't picked one out for me."
The black and pink-haired girl sighed. "Well, I'll keep working on it. Hopefully I can figure one out before either of us are voted off."
Zena smiled. "I look forward to whatever you come up with." Harumi giggled a bit, and turned away with a slight blush on her face.
On the right side of the campsite, the tents were Wade, Yuri, and Ardella, with Dante's still in the center. "You did an excellent job of leading us to victory, Lady Ardella," Wade pleasantly said to the leader.
Ardella giggled. "Oh, thank you, Wade, but there's no need to be so formal! We're all friends here, I hope! I'm just happy that we were able to win today while still bringing everyone. To be honest, I was a little concerned we would lose if we didn't split up."
"Apologies, Ardella," Wade replied, correcting his formality. "Although, I couldn't help but notice you voted for us to stick together in the challenge despite that. What prompted the change of heart?"
"Nothing," Ardella said softly. "I just didn't want to lose my new friends. I thought it would be a bit smarter to split up to win the challenge, but the big picture is that we could have still been looking for some people if we did that, even if it got us a win faster."
Wade nodded. "Insightful. I am honored you chose to speak to me tonight. Is there any particular reason? Perhaps you are interested in vanquishing evil?"
Ardella giggled again. "Wade, I am actually always interested in that. But, I chose to speak with you since you appeared to just be watching everyone. It looked lonely. Speaking of loneliness," she added, pointing to Dante. "We need to go and talk to him too. I'm sure he would like that."
The two Snakes walked over to Dante, who looked terrified to see people approaching him. "If you have questions, I'll answer anything, just don't come any closer!" he warned in a very frightened tone. "Please."
The protective leader sighed. "Dante, I guess what I want to know is why you think you're so doomed to be bad luck for us. You even moved your tent away from the torches, even though they were not really that close."
Dante shook his head. "I don't think I'm bad luck, I know it. So far today, I made Ushi fall in the submarine, and as far as we know, they haven't woken up yet. I threw a branch into Yuri and caused them to fall, making us stop for a long break, and now I've pulled you two away from your conversation."
"I promise that we were not doing anything of the sorts," Ardella promised. "Right, Wade?" They both looked behind Ardella to see Wade had vanished from sight. "Oh. Well, anyway, I think you are mistaking accidents for unlucky incidents. Maybe that's something this team can help with."
The harbinger looked up at Ardella. "You think you can help with my bad luck?" Ardella nodded apprehensively, as Dante still didn't get it. "What do you think I need to do to fix that stuff?"
"Face your fear," Ardella suggested. "How about this? You should go talk to Yuri and apologize for the branch incident." They looked to see Yuri comfortably in their tent, reading a book. "Maybe you'll start a great friendship instead!" She stood up. "Try that. I need to find Wade."
She turned around to start walking away from the Deep Zone campsite when Wade seemed to have apparated in front of her. Ardella let out a short yelp. "Sorry!" Wade called out in his regular voice as Ardella stumbled back. "I figured I should tell you, I-I wanted to look for an idol, since the immunity one could save me on a day where I'm not strong enough to help out."
The protective leader took a few breaths from the startle. "Yeah, go for it!" she eventually said. "Hopefully you won't need any of them until we merge, but I can't stop you from playing the game!"
"Amazing," Wade replied. He switched back to his ominous voice. "With that power, I can vanquish any evil that dares cross my path." The spooky hero threw the scarf around his neck and wandered out of the cave.
Dante wandered over to Yuri's tent. The bookworm was actively reading, and not paying much attention to the things around her. "H-hi, Yuri," Dante spoke up nervously.
Yuri glanced up from their book and saw Dante standing back a few feet from them. "Hello, Dante," Yuri spoke plainly. Was there something you needed?"
The harbinger sighed. "I just wanted to apologize for the branch thing today. I didn't mean to hit you in the face like that." He got a closer look at the bookworm's face, which still had a red mark on it from the injury. "Oh my gosh, you still have a mark on your face! I can help you try and cover it."
Yuri placed their hand on their head, where they felt the irritated skin. "Huh, so there is," they replied in a calm tone. Suddenly, something shifted in Yuri. Instead of the calm presence that normally emanated from them, there was a sense of unease after feeling the mark. "Dante, I think you need to leave," they said in a more frantic tone.
"What?" Dante asked, concerned. "Is everything okay? I don't want to be the reason that-"
"It's fine, you need to go," Yuri shot back curtly. They put the book down and went inside their tent. As they closed the zipper on it, they said one last thing. "Dante, please stand near your tent and stop anyone who tries to approach me for the next two hours. After that, you're forgiven." After that, Yuri disappeared into their tent, vanishing before Dante could even agree to the terms.
Yuri: "Like I said," they explained, "everyone has a deal. Even me. Especially me."
Luckily for the Soaring Falcons, the branch Oscar used was enough to support all of the other members as they went over to the campsite, but Ike remained on the other side. "Okay, as promised, I guess I'm hiking back down this hill to grab Ushi." The bargainer scoffed a bit as he began to leave the rest of his team. "Can't believe I gotta go back soon to go vote and maybe get eliminated."
As Ike began to walk down the hill he looked upward. "Sun's almost gone already," he noted. "I guess I'll start seeing bats and stuff soon." The bargainer struggled to safely trek down the hill on his own. "This sucks, what a stupid deal I've made. I don't even see an idol to make it worth it."
When Ike returned to the bottom of the hill, he encountered a situation he did not think would happen. Ushi was not in the position that the team had left them in. Instead, the sleeper was sitting on a log, and turned their head when Ike arrived. "Oh, hi there," Ushi greeted the bargainer.
"Look at that, Sleeping Beauty's awake!" Ike sneered. "We dragged you halfway through a challenge, and still lost because of it. I hope you've got a real good reason for why you've decided to slack off all day and let the rest of us do all the work!"
Ushi sighed. "Okay, a reasonable reaction." They paused at realizing something Ike had said. "Hold on…did you say we lost the challenge today?"
"Yes!" Ike complained. "We had an extra person who we had to literally carry, what did you expect to happen?" When Ushi heard Ike's response, the sleeper groaned and kicked a rock into the side forest. "Well, that was a reaction."
Ushi: "So…I was really banking on us winning this first challenge," they explained. "Everything about it was going to be great if we won, but now…now I have work to do."
Ike took note of Ushi's odd reaction. When he saw that, Ike's angered face switched to a more condescending one. "Ushi, Ushi," Ike said slyly, approaching the person with a stack of papers in his hand. The bargainer sorted through until he found the paper he was looking for. "Here it is. Ushi, I've got something you might want."
Ushi took a look at Ike's paper he confidently held in his hand. "Forgive me for saying this, but I don't trust your tone or your attitude or that paper. You exude snaky-ness, and whatever trade you want I want no part of."
The bargainer looked surprised. "Really? You don't even wanna hear it?" Ushi sighed. "Well, that's tough, you weren't gonna get this deal anyway. Not before you tell me your deal. I wanna know why you decided sleeping out the day was in any way useful."
"I didn't decide that," Ushi argued. "It just happens. I'm effectively nocturnal." Ike looked surprised by that reveal. "My life isn't easy. Narcolepsy mixed with a night shift job, homeschooling, and bad lifestyle choices means that I'm asleep during the day and awake at night. If we ever have a night challenge, I can carry this whole team on my back, but when there isn't, it's hard for me to survive while the sun is up."
Ike listened patiently. "Well, you're not gonna have to prove yourself to this team. They're all pissed at you. Even Caia seemed jaded. That'll make sense once you meet her." He pulled out the paper. "Here's where I come in. I wanna make a deal with you."
Ushi raised an eyebrow. "A deal? What do you plan on doing?"
The brown-haired teen handed Ushi the paper, who instantly began reading it. "If I do nothing," Ike stated boldly. "You go home. I lose nothing, I vote for you with everyone else, and you go home. If you agree to do everything I say, then you will survive tonight."
"Hold on," Ushi called out, showing Ike a portion of the paper. "This says if I find any immunity idols that you get them! That's hardly fair, and how do you even know there's immunity idols in the game?"
"Ah, you missed that earlier," Ike clarified. "I'll fill you in on that after elimination if you agree to this. I gain nothing from telling you that now. Any other conditions of the contract you'd like to try and negotiate?" Ike was getting excited now, likely just from making the deal in the first place.
Ushi continued to read. "So, let me clarify. I work for you, and only you, and you keep me safe, no matter what? And this goes for more than today? You have here you want this to go until the final four."
"It's a simple contract," Ike explained. "I save you tonight, and every other night, to my best capabilities. In return, I will recruit you to my side. You do everything for me that is not a direct detriment to your game. So, giving me the idols still helps you, as I can use them to save you." He pulled out a pen from his pocket. "This is the best and only offer you are going to get, and I am tired of waiting. What will you do?"
Ushi stared at the pen in Ike's hand. "There's got to be another way…" Ushi thought at first, but came up short on options. They didn't know anyone else on the team. They didn't even know Ike's name outside of the fact that Ike Ashley Soranna was written on the contract's signature line. This was truly the only option available. "Fine, deal."
Ike grinned excitedly at the contract being signed. "This is gonna be good for both of us," he assured them. The bargainer took back the contract and started speaking like it was the end of a commercial. "Thank you for your help, this contract is legally binding and you are subject to litigation should any parts of this contract be violated."
Ushi paused at that. "Wait, what do you mean, 'legally binding'? Can you sue if those terms get violated?"
Ike shrugged. "I don't wanna answer that, because now you won't believe me. What I can tell you is that when we get back to the campsite, the lady with purple hair is a lawyer and can verify that for you if you want, but then she knows about the deal. Up to you." He began walking back up. "Come on, let's go meet the team before they try and vote you off and fail."
Ike: "That is what I'm talking about!" Ike exclaimed excitedly. "The deal, the negotiation, every part of it was perfect! Even if they said no, I would have enjoyed myself. Ushi is an interesting person. I wonder if a nocturnal person is ever gonna help us or hurt us."
Ushi: They had their hands on their head. "I feel like I just sold my soul," they admitted. "But did I have a choice? I lose if I don't take that deal. At least now I have a chance."
Back at the campsite, the tents all remained in their original arc. The two most left tents were still empty, mainly for Ushi and Ike to use. After that from left to right was Matt, Vi, Caia, Trinity, and Oscar. Caia was currently hanging with Oscar and Trinity, the three casually having a conversation. "Based on my scopin' out," Oscar told the other two. "We picked the faster path, but could have dodged the hole trap going the other way. Looks like we saved time thanks to your coin flip."
Trinity held her coin lovingly against her cheek like it was a small pet. "Aw, thank you! It always makes the best decisions!" She then whipped out a deck of cards. "You know, there's a big chance that one of the three of us wins this million, so we should gamble a little bit. Anyone down to play some poker?"
"I won't play for money," Caia said bluntly. Trinity frowned and put the cards away. "You okay? You suddenly don't want to play now that it's for money?"
"She's a nut for the luck," Oscar analyzed ever so eloquently. "But that's all the best anyway. Hard to play a proper game of poker with only three people, and no one else seems jonesing to play." They looked to see Matt and Vi deep in conversation, and Ushi and Ike had not returned yet. "You reckon Ike is survivin' carrying our final member?"
Trinity laughed. "He's kinda short, maybe someone should have gone after him, just to make sure he made it back. Do you think Ushi's still asleep? It's been like, almost twelve hours."
Caia shifted in her seat. "You know, now that I think about it, we didn't have this issue loading onto the submarine, just loading off. That means Ushi got themselves on. I wonder if they'll finally be awake."
"That'd mean Ike'll be fine," Oscar mentioned. "But, I think I'm still votin' Ushi tonight. Whatever is goin' on there, it might happen again, and that's not something we can afford to have on the team. It's dead weight."
Caia sat quietly, listening to Oscar talk. "Interesting thought. I'm gonna walk around and see if an idol was lazily hidden nearby." She got up and left the other two. As she did, she began to quietly whisper to herself. "Or, maybe Ushi's only dead weight until we merge, then it's a free win…"
Matt and Vi were out by the rocky cliff talking to each other. "So, how was your first day out in…well, as close as this is to the real world?" Vi asked the perfect child with a smile on her face.
The well-dressed boy shook his head. "It was…so interesting," he decided. "I mean, one of our teammates was asleep the whole day, one is missing recovering them, you are a lawyer with a country dialect so thick it hardly sounds like English, Caia shows zero emotion ever, and Trinity clearly is a gambling addict." He shook his head. "Oscar is the most confusing though."
"He has some hints of a hazy past," Vi noted. "But I think his present self, as quirky and idiosyncratic as it is, is kind. My biggest concern at present is Ike." Matt looked surprised by that. "Volunteering to fetch Ushi was one thing, but…he came to me before he left, offered me a deal. I think it is a good one, so I took it, but that does not mean it is the only deal he makes."
Matt looked surprised to hear that. "Do you think he is making more right now? Maybe with Ushi if they woke up?" Vi nodded. "Wow. This game has so many parallels to my life. I think I may actually be able to survive quite well."
Just as Matt had said that, Ike and Ushi had returned to the campsite, with Caia also coming back at the same time with them. "The dead walk!" Oscar shouted excitedly upon seeing an open-eyed Ushi walking themselves back.
"You had a rather sub-par performance today," Vi explained calmly to Ushi. "You are free to set yourself up in the tent second to the end there, but I will warn you that unless you have a rather useful explanation, you should not get comfortable."
Ushi shook their head. "I'm not gonna try and explain this to you," he decided, earning some shock from everyone else. "Look, whatever I say, you'll just think that it's me trying to save my skin, so I'm going to let you make your own decisions after the elimination, should you choose to keep me."
Trinity shook her head. "You think that's gonna convince me?" She flipped the coin in her hand, and it ended up landing on heads. "Oh, crap." She turned around. "My decision's been made for tonight, I'll see you all when we leave for elimination."
Ushi waved to everyone else. "Well, if it's any consolation, I'd love to meet my team if I get the chance. I met Caia on the way back, and I definitely met Ike." The bargainer snickered as he twirled the pen in his hand. "What about the rest of you?"
"Oscar," the spiky-haired teen said with a wave. "I don't got a ton of stuff I rock at, but I guess that really ain't gonna matter. Bye-a jambalaya!"
"Violet," Vi said calmly. "I am an aspiring lawyer, you may call me Vi if you want. The crippling gambling addict who left is Trinity."
"Matt McBride," Matt said with a smile. "It is nice finally being able to put a voice to that face we've seen all day."
Ushi grinned. "Thank you, all. Sorry for all the trouble I caused today."
The slightly touching scene was put on pause by the announcement of their fate. "Hello, Soaring Falcons!" Chris called out. "Ushi, that's you by the way, welcome aboard. It's time to cast your votes and put someone out to the sea! Head all the way back to the beach! There's now a path through the middle of Diairesi Jungle, so your travel time should be a bit better."
Caia: "Running into those two bozos was a stroke of luck," Caia admitted. "But I gotta play tonight smart. Anyone could be on the chopping block. Especially now that we did that sappy intro thing. So who's gonna be a threat in the future?"
Vi: "Ike's deal he approached me about was interesting," she admitted. "I feel as though I am safe, but it is an odd deal to make considering my vote choice for tonight. I suppose there's no way around it."
Oscar: "This is an easy one, right-i-o? Why was everyone so tense on the walk ovah?"
Ushi: "Well, I have officially done all I can. Between refusing to share my reasonings, and forcing them to introduce themselves to me, maybe I can garnish enough sympathy to turn the tides. I have two votes already, I wonder if I can manage two more?"
After a long and grueling hike back to the beach, The seven Soaring Falcons made it to the fire circle that was sitting around the front with a clean water view. There were a bunch of logs that had been moved out to the beach, a total of ten were sitting out there. "Good evening, Soaring Falcons," Chris announced. "Or for some of us, it's good morning!" Ushi rolled their eyes. They did not find the joke very funny.
Chris pointed to the submarine that was docked on the edge of the beach. "Diairesi came to you on a submarine, and will be removed from you via the same method," he told them. "Chef will drag you out of here kicking and screaming if he has to. If you lose tonight, that is it, no turning back!" The host held up the bag of marshmallows. "Anyone who does not get a marshmallow tonight is instantly eliminated and sent to the Submarine of Shame."
Chef sat down across the firepit from everyone. "So, it's our first day of votin'. How is everyone feeling? Anyone nervous?"
Ushi raised their hand. "I mean, it's hard not to be," they admitted. "I was sort of missing a good chunk of the challenge and holding us down. Maybe I'm just praying for a miracle."
The cook nodded. "Vi, you spearheaded the challenge today but came up short. Do you think you're at risk of going home at all?"
The farmer shook her head. "I actually consider myself rather safe. Even more so than I did earlier in the day. I think the options this team has are rather limited today."
Chef then turned to Matt. "Rich boy, you had your first day of reality, as real as this gets at least. How was that?"
Matt laughed. "Have you seen this team? I think we are as far from reality as we can get. This whole process is super nerve-wracking for me."
"It always is," Chris said as he got the first of six marshmallows ready. "As unlikely as it is, I will offer this: if anyone has an idol they would like to play, you need to do that right now, or hold off until after whoever is eliminated leaves."
Silence filled the space for a second, as it was clear no one had found anything this early into the game. "Okay, let's send someone outta here." He held the first marshmallow up and tossed it out to the safest person of the game. "Oscar, you're earning the first marshmallow!"
The red-haired boy grinned a goofy grin. "That's how ya do it!" he cheered excitedly as he tossed it up in the air, the treat landing perfectly into his mouth once it came down.
"Trinity, you're safe too." The coin flipper smiled excitedly at the gift of safety, flipping the marshmallow around in her hand, unsure of what to do with it. She then took out her coin, flipped it to tails, and tossed the marshmallow right in the fire.
Chris held up the next marshmallow, with only four left, people began to be nervous. "Caia, you are safe." The false apathetic smirked to herself as she snagged the marshmallow from Chris's hand and popped it in her mouth instantly.
"Vi, you're safe too." The farmer nodded silently to herself as she grabbed the fourth marshmallow. Suddenly, there were only three people left, and even worse, only two marshmallows.
Chris held up the next marshmallow. "Ike, you're gonna play another day." The bargainer, despite being so low, felt no fear in himself as he smugly caught marshmallow number five. "That leaves one to go."
Chef looked at the final two contestants. "Ushi, you blew it big time by being dead weight for the entire day, only waking up after the challenge was over. Matt, your lack of real world knowledge could be a detriment to your team in the future." Both contestants looked equally understanding about those comments.
The perfect child had a concerned and nervous look on his face, while Ushi just held their head down in anticipation. "Ushi, Matt, either of you could be out of here today. Tonight, the loser of Total Drama Diairesi Island is…
…
…
…
…
…
…Matt!" Ushi perked up in shock as the final marshmallow shot their way, not even having a chance to dodge it as it crashed into their face. "Well, you tried your best, but the real world awaits you another time. Back into hiding."
Matt let out a quiet sigh. "I suppose that's all that happens now." He gave a warm wave to Vi. "Looks like this is as far as I go. Sorry I couldn't work with you much."
Vi still looked a bit thrown off by the elimination that had just happened. "That is quite alright," she graciously accepted. "Hopefully our paths will cross again soon."
With that, the perfect child walked with Chef to the submarine, and the first contestant of Diairesi Island was eliminated. "That's all I have for now," Chris told them. "Have a great night, I'll see you tomorrow!"
Trinity: "Ushi better be worth it," she said with a scoff. "The coin never lies."
The now six members of the Soaring Falcons made their way back to the campsite on the far end of the Sky Zone. "Hey, I wanted to thank all of you for giving me a chance," Ushi told them. "When we get back, just as promised, I will explain everything."
Once the hike was complete, the five other members sat by their own fire, which was starting to die out since the whole camp had to leave to do the elimination. Oscar started to repair the fire as best he could. "Okay, wow us," Caia snarked. "What's your deal and why is it worth keeping you more than this?"
Ushi nodded. "Of course. I explained this to Ike already, but I suffer from an extreme variant of narcolepsy. Between that, the fact I'm homeschooled, and that I work night shift jobs, I am effectively nocturnal. Asleep during the day, awake at night. I'll be wide awake for a whole ten more hours, probably will see you all in the morning before I go down again."
"That tracks with what they told me earlier," Ike assured everyone. "Look, they claim to be able to single-handedly carry us in a night challenge should one pop up. That's a neat trick. I have no way to prove that at the moment."
Vi stepped forward. "Ushi, I will be the first to admit that not only did I vote for you, I am most saddened by the person you selected to eliminate instead." She let out a huff. "That being said, the team has made a decision, and I hope for your sake it was the right one. We will reconvene tomorrow. Have a great night."
That seemed to be enough to get everyone to head to their tents. From the Sky Zone, the camera panned out to Chris and Chef in a shack in Diairesi Jungle watching the footage. "The Falcons seem to have taken a rather large risk! Will Ushi atone for their mistakes? Will Harumi think of a nickname for Zena, and what was up with Yuri? Find out…I don't know, some of it, next time, on Total! Drama! Diairesi Island!" He threw his hands up and spun around in his chair. "We're so back!"
Votes:
Caia: "What's better, getting rid of someone who's useless in challenges, or keeping that uselessness around for my bidding?" She laughed. "No shot that I drop the human shield. I want Matt gone."
Ike: "My deals are in motion," he said as he rubbed his hands together. "Caia met us before we got back to camp, Ushi is on my side, I just need one more vote, I hope I can get it. I vote Matt."
Matt: "I'm not really sure how to cast votes on this thing," he admitted. "Do I vote for who performed the worst? I guess I should vote for Ushi then, right? I will vote for them."
Oscar: "What an exhausting day. But, we can't afford someone who isn't around for the challenges. Sorry, Ushi, would have loved to hear your story."
Trinity: "The coin decided I will spare Ushi, so I guess that means I vote Matt, Caia was kinda talking about that earlier."
Ushi: "I have no clue where Ike is getting two other votes. Oh well, I guess I'll trust him, I don't have much choice. I vote for Matt."
Vi: "Ushi is a unique case, and one I would love to hear the perspective of, but regrettably, we need to cut someone out tonight, and Ushi is the most sensible choice. With no clue on how long we remain in teams, we need wins."
Total: Matt (4), Ushi (3)
Eliminated:
Matt McBride, The Perfect Child (14th)
Current Teams:
Buried Snakes: Ardella, Dante, Harumi, Wade, Xerxes, Yuri, Zena
Soaring Falcons: Caia, Ike, Oscar, Trinity, Ushi, Vi
Welcome back to an OC season! The original premise of these characters was that I wanted to have an OC with every letter of the alphabet, and this cast fixes that issue real well. Obviously with the Karonverse all wrapped up, this is where we put them, a brand new thing on their own. Some of these guys have begun making rounds in applications, but not too much at the moment.
Today's episode featured the elimination of Matt McBride: The Perfect Child. Matt was designed to be a blindside first boot, even though the deal scene makes it pretty obvious Ushi will be spared. The initial setup of an alliance/potential romance plot with Vi does its best to mask that. Matt's final moral alignment comes out as NEUTRAL GOOD. Due to being in a noble mansion, he has adopted good morals, but is still unsure of the real world and its functions, so he has no sense of what is actually lawful or not.
Anyway, I am super excited about this new cast. There are some diabolical scenes I have planned out for them. This episode featured the scene of Ike's deal. Every episode is going to have some sort of major scene like this one, most of the time they should give focus to new characters.
So, what did we think of Matt? What did we think of the new cast! I'm super excited to hear your thoughts in the reviews! Thank you all for reading this Tempo-sized behemoth of a chapter, the goal is to keep that at this length. I'll see you all next time!
